Blog

With double Bank Holidays next week we know a lot of you will be taking part in the Jubilee celebrations, whether joining with the neighbours in a street party or holding a more private gathering at home – or even escaping from it all with a picnic! The weather’s on the change which may upset some outdoor dining plans, but we hope you’ll be enjoying the extended fresh&naked range . The website has just been updated with improvements to the recipes page – and lots of new ideas for you to try.

It’s fitting that our seasonal Celebration Mix, is a little special! Steve Lawley, who grows our baby leaves on the Norfolk coast, realised that the selection of salad rocket, tatsoi, mustard and pak choi all grow at the same rate, so instead of mixing different types of leaves when packing them, he sows them together so they’re all harvested at the same time. Again, it means less handling so the leaves stay fresher. At the moment they’re even better value than usual as they’re on a Buy One Get Any (of a group of fresh produce) Free.

Hope everyone has a great weekend and makes the most of the extra days off!

PS We’d like to extend our own congratulations to Her Majesty on reaching the 60th anniversary of her accession. Our farming business was founded in the same year – 1952 – so we have our own Diamond Jubilee to celebrate, which we’ll be doing at our annual Open Farm Sunday on the 17th June when we’re hoping to meet some fresh&naked fans. More about that later ….

We’ve been a bit quiet on here of late, but that’s because we’ve been busy with getting ready for summer . We’re very excited about the new additions to our range which will be in the shops next week: now you can complete your salad inspirations with on-the-vine tomatoes, sweet pointed peppers and the cutest baby cucumbers you’ve ever seen!

Next week we also launch a new Fancy Radish pack, which is a mix of French Breakfast, Purple and the familiar scarlet globe varieties, ideal for a low-calorie snack or a great way to add some colour to your salads. (Tempting fate, we know, but there’s got to be some salad weather soon?).

There’s more! Our Living Leaves are so popular we’re introducing a Little Living Leaves tray of selected varieties of baby leaves. They’re also growing with their own roots so if you keep them in a light place and keep the soil base watered they should last for over a week, and you can harvest your own salad leaves when you need them.

Our home-grown season is getting under way in spite of the exceptionally wet ‘drought’ in April – we’re all crossing our fingers for some sunshine now! Grey skies, waterlogged soil and baby lettuces are not a happy combination and it has presented our growing team with quite a challenge to keep everything going. I hope to have more about the growing side for you soon, in the meantime, keep an eye out for our new range and let us know what you think of it.